In the oil and gas industry there are certain installations in which various connections and conduits are necessary. In the subsea domain, for example, subsea hydrocarbon production systems using sea surface facilities of any sort require petroleum fluids to flow from the seabed to the surface through various connections and conduits. Such connections and conduits, also referred to herein as tubular structures or pipe structures, may include any combination of rigid, semi-flexible or flexible risers, flowlines, flexible pipes and umbilicals.
Due to the various forces acting on these tubular structures, for example as the sea surface rises and falls with waves and tides and the facilities are moved vertically, laterally and rotationally, such structures are subject to structural failure due to fatigue. Additional damage may occur in the form of corrosion, erosion, or blockage which can be caused by the interior deposition of one or more of the flow components (such as wax, hydrates, asphaltenes, scales, etc.).
In the surface operating domain, whether onshore or offshore for example, pipe structures may experience structural failure due to periodic installation and disassembly, or jarring from high pressure fluid flow.
Accordingly, there is a need to monitor the condition of such pipe structures for effective operation so that remedial measures may be taken before such structural failure occurs.
WO2009087371 discloses a monitoring system for use in floating production installations such as those used in offshore oil and gas production. The disclosure teaches a continuous optical fiber distributed sensor installed as part of a flexible (or partially flexible) pipeline, wherein the sensor provides a distributed measurement of temperature and/or strain.